Yuzuru is an EXCITING skater.
The excitement comes from :
1. The very high quality of his elements and the undoubtable "wow" factor.
2.His vulnerabity and not enough masculine style ( we look at him as our child, and it creates him a real supportive attitude around).

I think, when Chan is clean Hanyu is nowhere near to him.

The real question is Patrick Chan. When he has "his" day, nobody can recently catch him.
If not, at least 4 others can win and Hanyu is one of them.

ITA.
I am a Chan fan but also love Hanyu. Hanyu's skating is exciting almost because of its wildness. Unfortunately for him it can also bring a lack of control. The complexity of Chan's skating and high level of difficulty, changing of edges etc give him the nod from the judges. He brings the 'figures' element back into figure skating but weaves this element into the intricate programs.

Well Hanyu got injured after/or before 4CC and lost time on training and it def show at world. And he has asthma, and only 18 so you cannot compare him to skater who are more senior by years like Chan. And Chan be going downhill since 2011 and men are getting notorious for triple splats as much as the ladies, so who know.

That's the huge disappointment for me. He tried to be more artistic last season but had very little improvement. In the meantime, his technics remain the same while everyone else is improving. That should have been the end of Kathy Johnson's fame. But no, he continues with this "coach" for the most important season of his skating life. I don't know what to think about him for this season anymore. We'll see. To answer the thread opener's question, yes, absolutely. Hanyu has already made the gap closer to Chan. He is capable of surpassing him this coming season too. Whether or not he will surpass Chan? We have to wait and see.

Well since Patrick is dating his coaches daughter he probably can't fire her. What was he thinking dropping a real coach like Christine Krall for someone who is NOT a real skating coach?

Hanyu is certainly capable of overtaking Chan. Technically I am far less nervous watching Hanyu execute a triple axel versus Chan. Artistically Hanyu is still young so a bit more refinement in his presentation along with consistency should make for an interesting showdown in Sochi should he skate clean in both programs.

I don't even think Plushenko has to be perfect, he just has to be cleaner than Patrick to win. I don't think people should rule him out based on previous best scores because when this event is in Russia you can throw all those out; Yuna beat her previous best by 15 points in Vancouver so if you bring it at the games you can get some great scores, particularly someone who has won OGM or OSM at the last 3 Olympics. (All this is assuming he comes with the necessary technical merit, without a quad he has no chance of gold)

I think he would have to be considerably cleaner than Patrick to win. Chan tends to get higher GOE and will certainly get higher SS and TR points. There are also a number of skaters, including Hanyu who can defeat even a perfect Plushenko. A Plushenko with 2 quads and 2 3A's will be very difficult for anyone, even Chan, to beat, though. I'm expecting bigger things from Fernandez and Hanyu. Even Ten I would expect bigger things. Obviously, we can't tell until people hit the ice. There's no telling that Chan/Yuzuru will get his act together, or if Plushenko will be able to do 2 quads again, or if Fernandez will be able to replicate his 3 quads, or if Ten can continue his success.

Hanyu is certainly capable of overtaking Chan. Technically I am far less nervous watching Hanyu execute a triple axel versus Chan. Artistically Hanyu is still young so a bit more refinement in his presentation along with consistency should make for an interesting showdown in Sochi should he skate clean in both programs.

Hanyu has the most consistent triple axel. I would trust him to land a 3A (and with +GOE) more than anyone in the men's field.

Chan already plateaued years ago, and is only going to continue declining from there (granted not much longer as he is entering his final season, so basically the question is can Hanyu catch and beat Chan next year, possibly at the Olympics, and to that I still say yes it is possible). But you can count on at least 3 mistakes by Chan every event after all.

Chan started his quads in late 2010 and his quads have become more consistent. His upper body movement has improved tremendously so to say Chan has plateaued years ago is not a fact. But of course knowing you, who has always mocked Chan, such comments are expected of you.

The 5 fall margin the judges still see Chan as having aside, I do think Hanyu can for one simple reason. Hanyu is still getting better while Chan already plateaued years ago, and is only going to continue declining from there (granted not much longer as he is entering his final season, so basically the question is can Hanyu catch and beat Chan next year, possibly at the Olympics, and to that I still say yes it is possible). Hanyu on his best day is now a better jumper. You can count on atleast 3 mistakes by Chan every event after all.

It's a bit up for grabs if Hanyu is a better jumper. Certainly his axels are much better but Chan's quad and ability to do quad triples gives him an edge. It's kind of a moot point to say that Chan is guaranteed three mistakes in every event when most of the field makes three mistakes on a more than nought basis.

As for Chan plateauing, the best he ever skated was the best ever skated under this system. Not to mention a world record SP last year. Yes, his consistency has declined but his overall skating and difficulty has gotten even better, and even with three falls (and not this 5 fall cushion you seem to try to consistently delude everyone into thinking he has) he is still better than most of the field. He still puts up high numbers and just because they weren't in the 280's doesn't mean he has plateaued. He's a 3-time World Champion and even with a loss to Ten he would have been the reigning world silver medallist. Hardly a huge decline on paper at least.

It's a bit up for grabs if Hanyu is a better jumper. Certainly his axels are much better but Chan's quad and ability to do quad triples gives him an edge.

I agree it's hard to say who the better jumper of these two is, but it's definitly not the quad that gives Chan an edge. Hanyus 4T is of similar quality and his consistency is actually a little better (at tumblr, a user named magicaleggplant was so nice to post some quad success statistics: out of 14 attempts, Hanyu landed 11 4T's with +GOE, which is a success rate of 79%. Chan landed 6 out of 10 attempts of solo 4T and 6 out of 10 4T combinations with +GOE - so he has a success rate of 60%). Besides that, I'm pretty sure Hanyu can do 4T-3T too (he's practicing it, and if he's capable of something like a 4T-3A-3A-3A...), he just doesn't need to because he does the 4S too. As of now, he still has huge troubles with that jump, but once he gets that more consistent, he'll have an additional quad jump over Chan too...

I agree it's hard to say who the better jumper of these two is, but it's definitly not the quad that gives Chan an edge. Hanyus 4T is of similar quality and his consistency is actually a little better (at tumblr, a user named magicaleggplant was so nice to post some quad success statistics: out of 14 attempts, Hanyu landed 11 4T's with +GOE, which is a success rate of 79%. Chan landed 6 out of 10 attempts of solo 4T and 6 out of 10 4T combinations with +GOE - so he has a success rate of 60%). Besides that, I'm pretty sure Hanyu can do 4T-3T too (he's practicing it, and if he's capable of something like a 4T-3A-3A-3A...), he just doesn't need to because he does the 4S too. As of now, he still has huge troubles with that jump, but once he gets that more consistent, he'll have an additional quad jump over Chan too...

Chan also has an inconsistent 4S so doesnt use it in competition. Likely neither Hanyu nor Chan has it competition ready but likely also that Hanyu feels impelled to use it to up the ante.

Chan also has an inconsistent 4S so doesnt use it in competition. Likely neither Hanyu nor Chan has it competition ready but likely also that Hanyu feels impelled to use it to up the ante.

Well, if we start with that, Fernandez seems to be training a 4Lo I get what you mean, but I think Hanyu's is actually quite good in practices, if he just wanted to up the ante, he could go for 2 4T's too. It's sad though that Chan never decided to go for the 4S in competitions, he'd definitly have the stamina to pull it off.

Well, if we start with that, Fernandez seems to be training a 4Lo I get what you mean, but I think Hanyu's is actually quite good in practices, if he just wanted to up the ante, he could go for 2 4T's too. It's sad though that Chan never decided to go for the 4S in competitions, he'd definitly have the stamina to pull it off.

Yes it is sad.
I think because of Chan's great admiration for Lambiel he has been more interested in improving his artistic side in the last couple of years. As long as he does what is important to him and fulfils himself as a skater its all good for me.

How do you figure? He has accomplished that very thing far more than anyone else...

Yes, but that was then and this is now. Four years ago in Vancouver I agree that Plush would have won if others went down...but that didn't happen. After multiple injuries and surgeries, a body that is much older than his competitors, and the fact that many in the field are able to perform quads as well or better than he ever could, leads me to believe that his chances of being perfect while all the other top guys mess up in one way or another just isn't realistic. Chan, Hanyu, Fernandez, Takahashi and a few others have reached his level technically and artisically. Plushenko is a long shot to win gold even in Russia.